S. L. A. Marshall

S.L.A. Marshall July 18, 1900 to December 17, 1977, was a military journalist and historian from Catskill, New York. He served with the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I before becoming a journalist, specializing in military affairs.

In 1940, he published Blitzkrieg: Armies on Wheels, an analysis of the tactics used by the Wehrmacht, and served in the U.S. Army as its chief combat historian during World War II and the Korean War. He retired in 1960 but acted as an unofficial advisor and historian during the Vietnam War. Marshall wrote over 30 books, his most famous being Men Against Fire: The Problem of Battle Command.

In this, he argued fewer than 25% of men actually fired at the enemy during combat. His analysis of the causes remains contested, while the data and methodology used to support his claim have been challenged. However, despite these misgivings, his conclusion that a significant percentage of troops failed to produce aimed fire in action have been reinforced by other studies, while his suggestions on how to reduce these numbers remain influential.